Group Action in Locational Conflict

Abstract

<p> Existing approaches to the analysis of participation in community groups have adopted either a social-psychological view or a structural-political view of the impetus for participation. This paper attempts to integrate these two approaches, through analysis of the nature of the link between the impact of the issue, which serves as a source of conflict (a psychological view) and the organizational characteristics of the community group (a structural view). Using Dahrendorf's model of latent and manifest interests, research propositions are generated, focusing on four sets of factors conditioning the selection of group participation as a response to conflict. These are: psychological factors, technical conditions of organization, social conditions of organization, and political conditions of organization.</p> <p> Results of an empirical application of these propositions, using a questionnaire, show that the impetus for participation in a community group is a two stage process, depending on the existence of two separate sets of conditions: the impact of the issues, which is dependent upon the individual's distance from the source of conflict; and the social organization of the group. Based on analysis and interpretation of these results, hypotheses are generated, and are used to modify and expand Dahrendorf's model, in order to make it more applicable to the analysis of community group participation in locational conflict.</p>